and they made it the title of the movie. (chloe and june) oh. yeah. captioned by closed captioning services, inc. >> announcer: this is an abc news special. >> i believe in the american people. i believe in you. >> right now, with so much at stake for our country. >> we know we still got a lot of work to do but we are determined to get it done. >> the democrats take center stage to make their case for their man. so what will the one person who know barack obama say? >> we have come so far, we can't turn back now. >> this is the democratic national convention. it's "your voice your vote." now reporting live from the time warner cable arena in charlotte, north carolina, diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. and good evening to all of you.

and good evening again to the team. it is great to have you back with us. this time, we are in charlotte, north carolina kicking off the democratic national convention. you can see the crowd gathered out there in the hall. that's 17,000 people. and once again, it is a woman. it is first lady michelle obama tonight, beginning this high-pressure moment with a speech. at the republican national convention, it was the candidates right there, ann romney. >> and the husbands, they challenge, mirror image this week. mitt romney came in according to the latest abc news/"washington post" poll, shows brand new, in the least favorable, 47% favorable, 49% unfavorable. >> and also under water, a surprising undertow among registered women voters.

the abc news/"washington post" poll showing a slide among them. >> and, of course, the first lady going to be addressing that tonight in her speech. we're going to be analyzing it all. we've got the white house correspondent jake tapper on the floor along with jon karl and cokie roberts here in the studio, george will and donna brazile. >> jake tapper on the floor. >> well, diane, four years ago, the democratic national convention from four years ago was very different than here. enthusiasm, but nothing like we saw in colorado four years ago. and of those numbers we just talked about a couple of things going on. first of all, unemployment still at 8.3% plus the millions more who are underemployed who want to find regular work and cannot. that's taking a toll. plus, the rough tone of the campaign, president obama leveling attacks against mitt romney would beat into his own favorability ratings. we see some of that in the poll. of course, this is part of the

strategy of the obama campaign team, knowing that president obama's popularity was going to be suffering going into this re-election. their challenge to make mitt romney an unacceptable alternative, as we saw george w. bush do in 2004 against john kerry. the last poll taken right before that election in 2004, george w. bush was only at 49% approval. somehow 1% or 2 percentage points still voteded for him, because they found john kerry so unacceptable that's been part of the obama playbook in this election plan. >> and, diane, one of the things we saw over the course of summer, the obama campaign spent a lot of money talking about mitt romney's experience and background. at this convention, they learn a lot more about his plans for the future. >> yes, that's right, by the end of thisevening, middle class may have been the phrase most often at the first night of the convention. let's bring in the team for

quick thoughts here. george will. >> well, four years ago, he was a kind of national rorschach test. to govern, he's made a lot of choices. he's defined himself by his choices. his task now is to tell the american people, the second time will be different, but to say it in a way that doesn't relegate the criticism of the first term. i think the american people want something different but they don't want him to say, and he will not say there's a lot of improvement, because the first time was successful. >> and donna, the white house has some trouble between handling thatuestion are you better off now than four years ago? >> well, george, as you know, in the last couple of days, they have come back with a good answer. and that answer is we're not as well off as we want to be, but we're sure not going back to the policies that we had. >> i want to turn to matt dowd now who is with the republican

and democratic campaign. as we know, vice president biden is saying don't judge me against the almighty, judge me against the alternative. how is it going so far? >> the numbers show there's two unelectable people running against each other. they both can't win on their own. so you have two people tied for second place, somebody has to do something that's going to break that tie. to me, the thing that's not done by either candidate, maybe it will happen thursday night, beginning tonight, who has a vision for the future. i don't think that barack obama needs to prove that things are better than four years ago. i think he needs to prove that things will be better four years from now. and that's the substance of this convention and the speech. >> and words for the future, the keynote speaker coming up in a few minutes, you spoke to him today, julian castro. >> yes, julian castro, exactly, he's the youngest mayor of the seventh largest city in his

country. an extraordinary story. he has an identical twin brother who will be appearing on that stage to introduce him. so don't think it's an optical illusion. once it happens there will be two of them on the stage. i talked to him earlier, he watched barack obama when he cave a keynote speech, and of course, it really turned him into a giant national figure. and he said he cannot, cannot bear to think that people are going to judge him against that speech. he's so nervous. >> like barack obama, the son of a single mother. also a harvard law school grad. his twin brother joaquin is coming to the stage right now to introduce him. he's running for congress in san antonio, up on the ballot in november. >> and, again, this is the postcard of the future, as they like to say, with the changing demographics in this country. but he is the first hispanic keynote speaker at a democratic national convention. a quick thought, donna?

>> barbara jordan, 1976, of course, barack obama, 2004, this is an opportunity, once again, to showcase the strong diversity. texas may be a role state to date but we're looking forward to the day when it becomes purple. >> -- for 18 years. >> i want to comment now as we're watching his brother joaquin castro, he's one minute younger. than his brother, and they treat each other very much as older brother/younger brother. he said to me today, the mayor did, that it was his younger brother who kept spurring him on, urging him on. that his younger brother is the dreamer, and that together, as you said, george, they made this incredible loop in their family going to stanford and on to harvard law. let's listen to joaquin. >> today, san antonio is our

nation's seventh largest city. a city on the rise that looks like american of tomorrow. julian is a dedicated husband to his wife erica, a public school teacher and a wonderful father to his 3-year-old daughter. so it's with much love and pride that i present to you by best friend, my twin brother, san antonio mayor julian castro. ♪ i've gotta a feeling that tonight's going to be a good night ♪ >> the 37-year-old julian castro and his brother. and the biggest moment in his speech-making life for sure. >> thank you. ♪ tonight's gonna be a good night ♪ >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you.

thank you. my fellow democrats, my fellow americans, my fellow texans, i stand before you tonight, as a young american, a proud american, of a generation board as the cold war receded. shaped by the tragedy of 9/11, connected by the digital revolution and determined to re-elect the man who will make the 21st century another american century, president barack obama! the unlikely journey that brought me here tonight began many miles from this podium, my brother joaquin and i grew up with my mother rosie and my grandmother victoria. my grandmother was an orphan. as a young girl, she had to

leave her home in mexico and move to san antonio where some relatives agreed to take her in. she never made it past the fourth grade. she had to stop and help out her family. my grandmother spent her whole life working as a maid, a cook and a babysitter, barely scraping by to give her only child, my mother, a chance so my mother could give me an even better one. as my grandmother got older, she begged my mom to gi her granhildren. she sprayed for one baby before she died. you can imagine when she found out she would twice over. she won a cookoff and paid our

hospital bill. by the time joaquin and i came along, this incredible woman had taught herself to read and write in both spanish and english. i can still see her in the room that joaquin and i shared with her, reading her agatha christy novels late into the night. i can still remember her every morning as joaquin and i walked out of the front door of the school making the sign of the cross behind us saying [ speaking in spanish ] may god bless you. my grandmother didn't live to see us begin our life in public service, but she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two generations after she arrived in san antonio one grandson would be the mayor, and the other would be on his way, the good people of san antonio willing, to the united states congress.

my family story isn't special. what is special is the america that makes our story possible. ours is a nation like no other, a place where great journeys can be made in a single generation, no matter who you are or where you come from, the past is always forward. america didn't become the land of opportunity by accident. my grandmother's generation and generations before, always saw beyond the horizons of their own lives and their own circumstances, they believe that opportunity created today would lead to prosperity tomorrow. that's the country they envisioned and that's the country they helped build. the roads and bridges they built, the schools and universities they created, the rights they fought for and won. these open the doors to a decent job, a secure retirement, a

chance for your children to do better than you did, and that's the middle class, the engine of our economic growth. with hard work, everybody ought to be able to get there, and with hard work, everybody ought to be able to stay there. and go beyond. the dream of raising a family in a place where hard work is rewarded is not unique to americans. it's a human dream. one that calls across oceans and borders. the dream is universal. but america makes it possible. and our investment in opportunity makes it a reality. now, in texas, we believe in the rugged individual. texas may be the one place where

people actually still have boot straps. and we expect folks to pull themselves up by them. but we also recognize that there's something we can't do alone. we have to come together and invest in opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow. and it starts with education. 20 years ago, joaquin and i left home for college and then for law school. in those classrooms, we met some of the brightest folks in the world. but at the end of our days there, i couldn't help but to think back to my classmates at thomas jefferson high school in san antonio. they had the same talent, the same brains, the same dreams as

the folks we sat with at stanford and harvard. i realized the difference wasn't one of intelligence or drive. the difference was opportunity. in my city of san antonio, we get that. so we're working to ensure that more 4-year-olds have access to pre-k. we opened cafe college where students get help with everything from college test prep to financial aid paperwork. we know that you can't be pro-business, unless you're pro-education. we know that pre-k and student loans aren't charity. they're a smart investment in a workforce that can fill and create the jobs of tomorrow. we're investing in young minds today, to be competitive in the global economy tomorrow.

and it's paid off. last year, the milken institute rank san antonio as the top economy. and we're only getting started. opportunity today. prosperity tomorrow. now, like many of you, i watched last week's republican convention. and they told a few stories of individual success. we all celebrate individual success, but the question is, how do we multiply that success? the answer is, president barack obama. mitt romney, quite simply, doesn't get it. a few months ago, he visited a

university in ohio and gave students there a little entrepreneurial advice. start a business, he said. but how? borrow money if you have to from your parent, he told them. gee, why didn't i think of that. some people are lucky enough to borrow money from their parents. but that shouldn't determine whether you can pursue your dreams. not in america. not here. not in the 21st century. i don't think governor romney meant any harm. i think he's a good guy. he just has no idea how good he's had it. we know that in our free market economy, some will prosper more than others. what we don't expect is the idea

that some folks won't even get a chance, and the thing is, mitt romney and the republican party are perfectly comfortable with that america. in fact, that's exactly what they're promising us. the romney/ryan budgets doesn't just education, cut medicare and cut job training. it doesn't just pummel the middle class. it dismantles it. it dismantles what generations before have built to ensure that everybody can enter and stay in the middle class. when it comes to getting the middle class back to work, mitt romney says no. when it comes to respecting women's rights, mitt romney says no. when it comes to letting people love who they love and marry who they want to marry, mitt romney says no. when it comes to expanding access to good health care, mitt romney --

>> all: says no. >> -- actually -- actually -- actually -- actually mitt romney said yes, and now, he says no. governor romney has undergone an extreme makeover. and it ain't pretty. so here's what we're going to say to mitt romney in november. we're going to say no! of all the fictions we heard last week in tampa, the one i find most troubling is is, if we all just go our own way, our nation will be stronger for it. because if we sever the threads that connect us, the only people who will vote are those who are already ahead. we all understand that freedom isn't free.

what romney and ryan don't understand, is that neither is opportunity. we have to invest in it. republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even better that somehow the rest of us will, too. folks, we've heard that before. first, they called it trickle down. then they called it supply side. now, it's romney/ryan, or is it ryan/romney? either way, their theory's been tested. it fails. our economy fails. the middle class paid the price. your family paid the price. mitt romney just doesn't get it. but barack obama gets it. he understands that when we

invest in people, we're investing in our shared prosperity. and when we neglect that responsibility, we risk our promise as a nation. just a few years ago, families that had never asked for anything found themselves at risk of losing everything. and the dream my grandmother held that work would be rewarded, that the middle class would be there, if not for her, then her children, that dream was being crushed. but then president obama took office, and she took action. when detroit was in trouble, president obama saved the auto industry, and saved a million jobs. seven presidents before him, republicans and democrats, tried to expand health care to all americans. president obama got it done. he made an historic investment

to lift our nation's public schools and expanded pell grants so that more young people can afford college. and because he knows we don't have an ounce of talent to waste, the president took action to take action for the young generation of dreamers. now, it's time for congress to enshrine in law, their right to pursue their dreams in the only place they've ever called home, america. four years ago, america stood on the brink of a depression. fighting incredible odds, and united republican opposition, our president took action. and now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs. he knows better than anyone that there's more hard work to do. but we're making progress, and

now, we need to make a choice. it's a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so the millionaires can pay less. or a country where everybody pays their fair share, so we can reduce the deficit and create the jobs of the future. it's a choice between a nation that slashes funding for our schools and cuts pell grants or a nation that invests more in education. and it's a choice between a politician who rewards companies that ship american jobs overseas, or a leader who brings jobs back home. this is the choice before us. and, to me, to my generation, and for all the generations to come, our choice is clear. our choice is a man who's always chosen us, a man who already is

our president, barack obama. in the end, the american dream -- the american dream is not a sprint or even a marathon. but a relay. our families don't always cross the finish line in the span of one generation, but each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor. my grandmother never owned a house. she cleaned other people's houses so she could afford to rent her own. but she saw her daughter become the first in her family to graduate from college. and my mother fought hard for

civil rights so that instead of a mop, i could hold this microphone. and while she may be proud of me tonight, i got to tell you, mom, i'm even more proud of you. thank you. today -- today, my beautiful wife erica and i are the proud parents of a 3-year-old little girl karina victoria named after my grandmother.

a couple of mondays ago, a couple of mondays ago was her first day of pre-k. and as we dropped her off, we walked out of the classroom, and i found myself whispering to her as was once whispered to me [ speaking foreign language ] may god bless you. she's still young and her dreams are far off yet, but i hope she'll reach them. as a dad, i'm going to do my part, and i know she'll do hers. but our responsibility as a nation is to come together and do our part as one community, one united states of america, to ensure opportunity for all of our children. the days we live in are not easy ones, but we have seen days like this before. and america prevails with the

wisdom of our founders and the values of our families, america prevails. with each generation going further than the last, america prevails, and with the opportunity we build today, for a shared prosperity tomorrow, america will prevail. it begins with re-electing barack obama. it begins with you. it begins now. [ speaking foreign language ] may god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america. thank you. thank you. thank you. >> and there you have it, the keynote speaker at the democratic national convention. julian castro, san antonio, i just have to say right away, george, there's something so wonderful about a little girl, a 3-year-old looking up, karina looking up at herself on the big screen and loving her hair. >> that is really good. he's got to be happy after that speech. he started out tentative, but when he hit that about mitt

romney, he had his crowd on fire. >> he laid out markers saying govern romney, he does not get it. he's a good guy, he just has no idea how good he has it. i want to turn now, abc news has any new partnership and great venture to come with univision, it's great to see you here, maria elenas celinas. >> good to see you. a lot of hispanic voters out there do, too, i think the speech was directed not only at hispanic voters, but also at young people. i spoke to him a couple weeks ago, i spent a few hours with him and his family. he made it very clear that he knows he's not barack obama, but he did want to talk about the opportunities you get in this country in his own way. i think that's exactly what he did today. he talked about his family, he

talked about america being the land of opportunity. >> let me ask you about the hispanics, 16.3% of this country, and yet half of those, capable of those voting, show up. >> exactly. well, see, there's good news and bad news for president obama. the majority of hispanics are voting for him, but there's no enthusiasm. and that's the bad news. the level of enthusiasm has gone down. for several reasons. among them, they feel he did not keep his promise for immigration reform. the deportation of more than 1 million undocumented immigrants separated families. and so they're not sure if they're going to go out and vote. but, you know, there's new data that came out from intermedia that shows that mitt romney has gone up a little bit. 30% now. better than last week, 26%. possibly the most interesting thing, is that among new voters, 60% of them consider themselves

independents. so really, the hispanic vote is up for grabs. and they're paying a lot of attention to this convention and the previous convention to decide who they're going to give their vote to. >> that's right, in states, mitt romney would have to climb above 30% to have a chance. we want to take a brief break, and when we come back, first lady michelle obama takes the stage. >> announcer: you're watching abc news live coverage of the demoic heavy load in america. but mitt romney plan, a middle class to $2,000 momore a a year in ta. multi-millionaires like himself hits the middle ass harder... bigger break. forward for america? this message.

>> announcer: abc news live coverage of the democratic national convention. once again, diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. and hello once again. and welcome back, we're in charlotte, north carolina, of course, and we are awaiting first lady michelle obama. what it is to be first lady these days. we're told she's traveled 79,000 miles in this campaign cycle alone. we're talking not only about

campaign events and live events, in addition to raising her children back at the white house watching. >> advocacy for veterans and military families. she's going to hit that hard tonight. also something brought into the hall by the woman introducing michelle don't, elaine brye. >> elaine brye of winona, ohio, you should know, she's the mother of five, and four of her children are currently serving in different armed force units out there. >> she's an air force veteran herself. >> and the fifth is planning to go in and serve as well. they are showing a video right now in the hall. a video that the democratic national committee prepared of kind of a biography of her and also to talk about her as a mother. and we will join that. and then coming up right away, right out of that will be the introduction by elaine brye. >> -- fabulous and remarkable

and special. and the reason they are is because of michelle. i always say in our household, she's the conductor, and i'm second fiddle. >> you know, barack always gives me so much credit for who our girls have become. but let me tell you, our girls wouldn't who they are without the man in their life who loved them deeply. >> what i love about my wife more than anything is she knows what's important. and she knows what the best and most important legacy of anybody's life is making sure that your kids turn out all right. they have good values. they're kind. they're caring. and what's very gratifying to me is that i know the girls at this point are going to be fine because they've got the best mom in the world. ♪

>> coming up, the introduction of first lady michelle obama and she'll speak. ♪ wow. what's a mom like me doing in a place like this? i'm not even a political person. but what i am is a military mom. my husband and i are so proud of our five kids. one each in the army, the navy, the air force and the marines. our youngest is still in high school and, yes, we are hoping he will join the coast guard. they are mom's most precious treasures.

and i don't know when i'm going to get them together again because one of them is always deploying. but because of dr. biden and the first lady, our lives are a little bit easier. along with president obama, they have made helping military families a top priority. they've brought together the american people, including thousands of businesses to become part of a nationwide support network. it is honor and respect in action. and it warms this mother's heart. last december, i wrote michelle obama a christmas card. just a mom-to-mom note to say thank you for caring. the first lady not only read my

letter, she invited my husband and i to the white house. it was an amazing experience. but what's even more amazing is knowing that our commander in chief and first lady are thinking about families like mine every single day. so like i said, i'm not a political person. but i'm a mom. and if someone is there for my family and families like mine, then i'll be there for them. that's why i am so proud to introduce my fellow mom and our first lady michelle obama. ♪

♪ >> right now, at the democratic national convention saying we love michelle. ♪ signed sealed delivered i'm yours ♪ ♪ ♪ ooh baby here i am signed sealed delivered i'm yours ♪ thank you. thank you so much. thank you.

thank you so much. with your help, with your help, let me start, i want to start by saying thanking elaine. elaine, thank you so much. we are so grateful for your family's service and sacrifice, and we will always have your back. over the past few years as first lady, i have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this country. and everywhere i've gone, and the people i've met and the stories i've heard, i have seen the very best of the american spirit. i've seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family,

especially our girls. i've seen it in teachers, in a near bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay. i've seen it in people who have become heroes at a moment's notice, diving into harm's way to save others, flying across the country to put out a fire, driving for hours to bail out a flooded town. and i've seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families. in wounded warriors who tell me they're not just going to walk again, they're going to run and they're going to run marathons. in the young man blinded by a bomb in afghanistan who said simply i'd give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance do what i have done and what i can still do. every day, the people i meet inspire me.

every day, they make me proud. every day, they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on earth. serving as your first lady is an honor and a privilege. but back when we first came together four years ago, i still had some concerns about this journey we'd begun. while i believed deeply in my husband's vision for this country and i was certain he would make an extraordinary president, like any mother, i was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that chance. and how would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight? how would they feel being uprooted from their school, their friends and the only home they'd ever known? see, our life before moving to washington was filled with simple joys. saturdays of soccer games.

sundays at grandma's house. and a date night for barack and me with either dinner or movie, because as an exhausted mom, i couldn't stay awake for both. and the truth is, i loved the life we had built for our girls. and i deeply love the man i have built that life with, and i didn't want that to change if he became president. i loved barack just the way he was. you see, even back then, when barack was a senator and a presidential candidate, to me, he was still the guy who picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out i could actually see the pavement going by in a hole in the passenger side door. he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he found in a dumpster.

and whose only pair of decent shoes was a half size too small. but, see, when barack started telling me about his family, see, now, that's when i knew i had found a kindred spirit. someone whose values and upbringing were so much like mine. you see, barack and i were both raised by families who didn't have much in the way of money or material possessions, but who had given us something far more valuable. their unconditional love. their unflinching sacrifice and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves. my father was a pump operator at the city water plant. and he was diagnosed by multiple sclerosis when my brother and i were young. and even as a kid, i knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain. and i knew there were plenty of

mornings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of bed. but every morning, i watched my father wake up with a smile. grab his walker, propped himself up against the bathroom sink and slowly shave and button his uniform. and when he returned home after a long day's work, my brother and i would stand at the top of the stairs of our little apartment, patiently waiting to greet him. watching as he reached down to lift one leg and then the other to slowly climb his way into our arms. but despite these challenges, my dad hardly ever missed a day of work. he and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education they could only dream of. and when my brother and i finally made it to college nearly all of our tuition came from student loans and grants. but my dad still had to pay a

tiny portion of that tuition himself. and every semester, he was determined to pay that bill right on time, even taking out loans when he fell short. he was so proud to be sending his kids to college. and he made sure we never missed a registration deadline because his check was late. you see, for my dad, that's what it meant to be a man. like so many of us. that was the measure of his success in life, being able to earn a decent living that allowed him to support his family. and as i got to know barack, i realized that even though he had grown up all the way across the country, he'd been brought up just like me. barack was raised by a single mom who struggled to pay the bills and by grandparents who stepped in when she needed help.

barack's grandmother started out as a secretary at a community bank. as she moved quickly up the ranks, but like so many women, she hit a glass ceiling. and for years, men no more qualified than she was, men she had actually trained were promoted up the ladder ahead of her, earning more and more money while barack's family continued to scrape by. but day after day, she kept on waking up at dawn to catch the bus, arriving at work before anyone else, giving her best without complaint or regret. and she would often tell barack so long as you kids do well that's all that really matters. like so many american families, our families weren't asking for much. they didn't begrudge anyone else success or care that others had much more than they did, in fact, they admired it.

they simply believed in that fundamental american promise. that even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and grandkids. that's how they raised us. that's what we learned from their example. we learned about dignity and decency, that how hard you work matters more than how much you make. that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself. we learned about honesty and integrity. that the truth matters. that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules. and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

we learned about gratitude and humility that so many people had a hand in our success from the teachers who inspired us to the janua janitors who kept our school clean. and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect. those are the values that barack and i and so many of you are trying to pass on to our own children. that's who we are. and standing before you, four years ago, i knew that i didn't want any of that to change if barack became president. well, today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways i never could have imagined, i have seen first hand that being president doesn't change who you are. no, it reveals who you are.

you see, i've gotten to see up close and personal what being president really looks like. and i've seen how the issues that come across the president's desk are always the hard ones. you know, the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer. the judgment calls or the stakes are so high, and there is no margin for error. and as president, you're going to get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. but at the end of the day when it comes time to make that decision as president, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are. so when it comes to rebuilding

our economy, barack is thinking about folks like my dad and his grandmother. he's thinking about the pride that comes from a hard day's work. that's why he signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay act to help women get equal pay for equal work. that's why he cut taxes for working families and small businesses, and fought to get the auto industry back on its feet. that's how he brought our economy from the brink of collapse to creating jobs again. jobs you can raise a family on. good jobs, right here in the united states of america. when it comes to the health of our families, barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day. another president. he didn't care whether it was

the easy thing to do politically. no, that's not how he was raised. he cared that it was the right thing to do. he did it because he believed that here in america our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine. our kids should be able to see a doctor when they're sick, no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or an illness. and he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care. that's what my husband stands for. when it comes to giving our kids

the education they deserve, barack knows that like me and like so many of you, he never could have attended college without financial aid. and believe it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bill was actually higher than our mortgage. yeah, we were so young, so in love and so in debt. and that's why barack has fought so hard to increase student aid and keep interest rates down, because he wants every young person to fulfill their promise and be able to attend college without a mountain of debt. so in the end, for barack, these issues aren't political. they're personal. because barack knows what it means when a family struggles. he knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids.

barack knows the american dream because he's lived it. and he wants everyone in this country, everyone to have the same opportunity, no matter who we are or where we're from or what we look like or who we l e love, and he believes that when you have worked hard and done well and walk through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. no, you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. so when people ask me whether

being in the white house has changed my husband, i can honestly say that when it comes to his character and his convictions and his hard, barack obama is still the same man i fell in love with all those years ago. yes. he's the same man who started his career by turning down high-paying jobs, and instead, working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work. because for barack, success isn't about how much money you make. it's about the difference you make in people's lives.

he's the same man -- he's the same man when our girls were first born would anxiously check their cribs every few minutes to ensure that they were still breathing. proudly showing them off to everyone we knew. you see, that's the man who sits down with me and our girls for dinner nearly every night, patiently answering questions about issues in the news, strategizing about middle school friendships. that's the man i see in those quiet moments late at night, hunched over his desk, pouring the letters people have center him. the letters from the father struggling to pay his bills. for the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won't cover her care. from the young people with so much promise and so few opportunities, and i see the

concern in his eyes. and i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me you won't believe what these folks are going through, michelle, it's not right. we've got to keep working to fix this. we've got so much more to do. i see -- i see how those -- i see how those stories, our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams, i see how that's what drives barack obama every single day. and i didn't think that it was possible, but let me tell you

today, i love my husband even more than i did four years ago. even more than i did 23 years ago when we first met. let me tell you why. see, i love that he has never forgotten how he started. i love that we can trust barack to do what he's going to do what he says he's going to do especially when it's hard. yeah, i love that for barack there is no such thing as us and them. he doesn't care whether you're democrat or republican or none of the above. he knows that we all love our country, and he is always ready to listen to a good idea. he's always looking for the very best in everyone he meets. and i love that even in the toughest moments, when we're all sweating it, when we're worried that the bill won't pass and it seems like all is lost, see, barack never lets himself get

distracted by the chattering of noise. no. just like his grandmother. he just keeps getting up and moving forward with patience and wisdom and courage and grace. and he reminds me -- he reminds me that we are playing a long game here. and that change is hard and change is slow and it never happens all at once. but eventually, we get there. we always do. we get there because of folks like my dad, folks like barack's grandmother. men and women who said to themselves, i may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will. maybe my grandchildren will. see, so many of us stand here tonight because